


More or less

by galaxyostars



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: A Most Unexpected Man, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, But in Andromeda!, Dubious Consent, Explicit Language, F/M, Knotting, Omega Verse, Pain, Sexual Inexperience, Smut, This may not be your thing, fanfic of a fanfic, move along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2018-12-02 23:59:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11520261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxyostars/pseuds/galaxyostars
Summary: As an omega, Cora is generally cautious of alphas. It's common knowledge that alphas are brutes, dangerous and always dominant. The Ryders, however, seem incapable of all those things.When she's locked in Scott's quarters and about to go through a heat, she thanks his lucky stars that he's a Ryder.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dance With the Devil](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1054599) by [Scutter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scutter/pseuds/Scutter). 



> I felt that Andromeda needed a mild introduction to Scutter's series "A Most Unexpected Man". It's a smut series with a whole lot of smut, but just . . . oh man. You gotta read it. Read that first, then come back, and you'll understand everything that's being mentioned here. But if you want to skip something like 80% of the awesome, in which shame on you, read through Scutter's 'Dance With the Devil' to be caught up to speed on most of the politics. 
> 
> I guess this makes this piece a fanfic of a fanfic? XD That being said, I sincerely doubt this will be as smut-filled, assuming I get around to that at all.

It all started when Cora Harper found herself squarely between one Scott Ryder and a recently awakened, non-essential omega.

She'd like to say that it wasn't as serious as it sounded, but truth be told, it was. It'd been the first time see'd seen Scott Ryder snap at anything - the man had just stopped in his tracks, and by the time Cora had realized what was going on, he was half-way to the omega in question.

She was close enough to him now that she noticed gold begin to thread through the colour of his eyes. Only once had she seen such a thing happen before - Alec Ryder, no less, but in very different circumstances. Scott's nostrils flared, his breathing kicked up, and though it seemed that every inch of his self-control was being used in planting himself like a tree, she could feel him straining against her biotics. He'd stated to her that he would not step forward, but if he did, she shouldn't hesitate to pin him to the ground. Cora's main problem was that despite all his talk, he wasn't backing up, that alpha strength and resolve trying to force him forward towards the omega civilian currently in the furthest corner away from them both, terrified for his own life.

It had changed her entire view of the pathfinder. Minutes ago, he was a beacon of light and confidence, with a relatively level-head on his shoulders. Now, he was an animal.

Cora mustered her biotic energy to push at the man's chest, forcing him to back up towards the doors, causing his back to press into the bulkhead just to the right of them. Harry had had the foresight to at least lock down the medbay to avoid any other wayward alphas sniffing about (even though it would have been better if he'd _started_ with that), but alas, Scott was now trapped in a room more or less flooded with omega pheromones with no easy way out.

And through most of the ordeal, he'd repeated one sentence to himself. “I'm not an animal.”

 _And it's exactly that reason why I haven't locked you down yet,_ Cora thought, and then immediately chastised herself. This was Alec Ryder's _son_. Alec Ryder, the most civilized alpha she'd ever met and the only alpha she'd worked _for_. Logic dictated that he'd passed on some of that civility to his son.

Or, at least, that was what she was hoping.

“Harry, how's this door coming?” She called, trying to remain calm but also trying to hurry the doctor along. And as if luck was looking out for her today, the doors slid open. With a forceful grip on the front of his shirt, she pushed Ryder through them, making sure they closed behind her, but also noting just how easily Scott had complied.

It made sense. He hadn't _wanted_ to be in there in a terrifying capacity. But his biology had betrayed him by pure chance of his arriving at the same time an omega 600 years free of suppressants had been woken.

Omegas in cryo had been a complex process. They'd been required to stop taking their suppressants before entering cryostasis for the journey, had been made aware of the grisly process that were their heats and how they'd react to being in stasis for such a long time. Some of them had been lucky – they'd stopped taking suppressants and entered cryo at just the right time that they awoke and could resume suppressants without consequence. This omega was not so lucky. And only gods knew how that heat was going to go.

Scott finally sucked a cautious breath, Cora of the sudden realization that he'd actually stopped breathing half-way through what had happened, stumbling somewhat and saved from falling only by her steady hands. “I have to sit down,” He huffed, collapsing onto the steps with his head lowered as he steadied his breathing. Cora had to wave off the attention they'd drawn to themselves, both to keep what had happened under wraps and Scott's dignity intact. It'd been hard for her not to notice the tent in his pants.

“You're an alpha,” Cora stated. She simply hadn't known. She knew Alec had been, the man's character both fitting and ill-fitting of the typical descriptions associated with alphas back in the Milky Way, but she'd done her best to ignore social conventions when working with him, ignoring every single one of her instincts, continuing her suppressants, and there had never been an incident of any kind. Scott had, up to this point, acted nothing like the such, utilizing what she found in a typical beta mindset. Evidently, this may simply have been the result of good training on his father's part.

He didn't respond straight away, opting to instead focus on his breathing as if it were helping. “Yeah.”

“Who else knows?”

Scott scoffed. “It's on my medical file. You're aware of it. Whoever was in the medbay just now is aware of it. I was hoping to keep it quiet.”

An alpha pathfinder may or may not have been good for morale. Betas left and right were calling for alpha and omegas partnered together purely for reproduction and then placed back into stasis, to 'avoid wastes of resources'. Given that they'd reconnected with the other species (or, well, _most_ of them), Cora had hoped such comments would be made in the privacy of the human ark and not out in the atriums of the Nexus. So far, they'd been lucky. If the Nexus council had noticed any unrest on the human ark, they'd failed to mention it to the human pathfinding team. All was thankfully quiet.

“We should get you back to the Tempest, give you time settle,” Cora finally said, breaking the silence that had gathered between them.

“I'm alright now. As long as I don't . . .” He glanced back up at his second in command, whom wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer, and sighed. “Yeah. Let's go back to the Tempest.”

* * *

She couldn't help but analyze his every move, be prepared for his racing back towards the medbay, but no. Scott Ryder was the most calm and collected alpha she'd ever laid eyes upon – and this was after meeting his father. He was almost timid in comparison, allowing Cora to stay two steps behind him as if he knew she was putting herself on guard to protect everyone else around them. It was equally surprising that he allowed himself to be escorted back to his quarters.

These were not the behaviours of a gender she was warned about daily as a child.

Scott settled himself down on his couch, pouring himself a drink, practically ignoring Cora standing at the door as she surveyed him. Finally, he dropped his head back and huffed. “That shouldn't have happened.” He mumbled. “I'm sorry.”

She stood at attention, her hands clasped behind her back. “Sorry? About what?”

“I should have called ahead before I went into the medbay. There's no protocols on waking up the omegas, but I figured Dunn was keeping the running theme of leaving them in stasis until such time we could find a sustainable supply of suppressants. I was careless.”

She frowned. If anyone was careless, she had to point the finger at Harry for not alerting the pathfinder as to whom exactly was being woken up in the first place. She moved past him to sit on the other side of the couch, still watching him, this time with a mild curiosity. “An omega was starting his heat and you reacted accordingly.” There was a pause before she continued. “I think you reacted with some serious restraint, given the circumstances.”

“I've never been in a room with an omega on heat before. I just . . . I didn't know how to react." He paused, leaning forward and offering her a glass - of which she took. "I think I got lucky.”

Cora tapped at her glass. “Did your father ever talk about it? About omegas on heat, I mean.”

And now they hit the awkward topic, Scott cringing somewhat before stepping back into those memories. There was a hesitancy to his voice. “Not explicitly.”

It was a blatant lie Cora saw right through. “You and your sister aren't adopted, are you? You're related to your parents by blood?”

For a brief moment, as if assessing the implication of his answer, Scott looked away. Alpha and omega couples were rare – so much so that, despite their requirement for humans to reproduce, it was almost unheard of for couplings to exist outside of breeding centres. To make matters even more complicated, omegas didn't typically keep their own children, never usually having the desire to do so – most if not all of the human population are adopted out to beta couples.

That Alec Ryder, the human pathfinder, was an alpha was scandalous enough. That he'd been in a long-term relationship with an omega was blasphemy. That they not only had, but _kept_ their own children was a fantasy – it never happened in real life, and if it was true, it shattered almost every social convention Cora could think of.

“Ellen Ryder was an omega,” Cora finally said to herself. “I can't believe it.”

Scott sighed, glancing at his now empty glass. “They passed themselves off as a regular couple until the Initiative was in full swing. Then dad recruited you. Thankfully no one questioned anything.”

To think that the Initiative had been founded by an omega woman, that the human pathfinder (both of the human pathfinders) was an alpha, and that SAMs creators were a legitimate alpha/omega couple whom had raised their own children from birth . . .

They might have cursed it some days, but the Initiative was a real marvel of social defiance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh - following the canon timeline, with Scutter's timeline, none of the fixes David, Shepard and Kaidan went through happened while our Andromeda crew were still in the Milky Way. These guys didn't see the second version of the Self-Determination Act, or the Rights and Protection Act of Alphas.


	2. Chapter 2

With suppressants in short supply, gathering the necessary chemical compounds in the Andromeda galaxy had proven to be quite the task for the Tempest crew. It was far from the exploration many of them had signed up for, and now, as the ship landed on Kadara, their resident bubbly asari questioned the reasons behind their visit. Scott said nothing. Peebee went on tinkering with her new 'project'.

“Cora, Jaal, suit up. We're headed into Exile territory.”

With a slight frown, Cora put down the datapad she'd been going over, giving Ryder a quick glance, before heading to the Tempest's docking ramp to put on her equipment.

After what had happened in the Hyperion's medbay, Scott had avoided her for a solid three days, speaking only few necessary words to her – in fact, she'd expected him to continue this avoidance for a further week. But now, here she was, at the Pathfinder's side again.

He only spoke when Jaal started snoring in the backseat of the Nomad, driving on a trail through Kadaran hills. “I'm sorry.”

Cora glanced at him again, reconnecting the scope to her pistol having adjusted it. “For what?”

“For everything that's . . . happened.”

“Pretty sure you already apologized for that, Ryder.”

“No, I mean-” He huffed in frustration. “I mean hiding from you. I'm sorry I've been hiding from you.”

She smirked a little. “I'll admit, I was surprised you brought me along for this.”

“It felt weird bringing one of the others for the . . . for this.” He breathed, apparently feeling awkward talking about omega suppressants. “Our non-human friends are blissfully ignorant, and Liam is awkward on a good day. Jaal is . . .”

“Open?” Cora suggested.

“Yeah, let's go with that.”

She chuckled. “You could have brought Lexi.”

Scott blinked for a few seconds, the Nomad slowing a little as he considered Cora's words. He shook his head. “Yeah, no. She's far too positive about sex.”

“I don't think there's a _lot_ wrong with that.”

He frowned. “Boundaries aren't a thing for you?”

“I just think that your parents are a good example as to how humans _could_ be.”

It was silence from that point onward.

* * *

“How'd it go?”

Ryder dumped his chest piece onto the gear table, helping Cora undo her shoulder pads before unclipping his own belt and thigh plates “Success. We can head back to the Nexus whenever Gil's ready.”

“Glad to hear it!” Liam beamed. “Cora, Lexi wanted to see you.”

The biotic glanced up. “About?”

“Dunno. She just said that it was urgent.”

He praddled off, following a Jaal content in walking to his quarters still fully geared up. She looked over to the pathfinder, the man pulling off his gloves, his breathing uncharacteristically shallow as she addressed him. “You're all good here?”

“Yeah,” He nodded. “Go check in with Lexi.”

After storing her shotgun and kicking off the ground boots into a corner, she slid down the ladder, turning into the medbay to spot one asari with her arms crossed, staring at a monitor.

“You wanted to see me, doc?”

“Yes, I did.” Lexi pulled the monitor over to Cora, pointing at a declining line. “You remember the trioxaline implant I gave you to combat the seasonal allergies you were having on Eos?”

“Four days ago, yes, I remember.”

“I was monitoring your vitals and noticed a drop.” She pulled up another report. “This is the chemical compound of your suppressant – it's supposed to stay strong over a twenty-four hour period, at which time, you take another. This,” The asari moved it over to display the initial report she'd been staring at. “This is the trioxaline.”

It all read more like gibberish then it did a regular report. “Lexi, I don't know what I'm looking at.”

With a deep breath, the asari spoke. “Lieutenant, I regret to inform you that I made a mistake.”

“A mistake? Lexi, I feel fine.”

“At present, yes. But the trioxaline is . . . effectively neutralizing your suppressant.”

For a moment, Cora's heart stopped, ice spreading from her chest as she turned fully to Lexi. The asari continued. “I can take the implant out, but your body still has to process the remains of it, at which point your suppressant will be null and void.”

“You're saying I'm going to be forced to go through a heat.”

She'd had to sit down on the closest bed as she processed her own words, the colour draining from her cheeks. Cora had been through one heat before – just one. Cramps, nothing more, and nothing less. A prelude for what was to come. She'd immediately started suppressants and hadn't looked back since – as did many omegas. Not being mated by an alpha at a time of heat meant pain, and a _lot_ of it, but alphas themselves were downright _brutal_. Cora had been lucky she'd been in Scott's way back on the Nexus, her saving grace being her biotic capability, but if she hadn't been there, the pathfinder would have gotten his way, or at least injured someone trying. Normally, alphas were sedated for heats at breeding centres.

“How long do I have?”

“Ten hours. Maybe twelve.”

It'd hit her in the middle of the Tempest's night shift, then. Not ideal for her crewmates.

In the back of her mind, she could hear herself balled up in a corner of the medbay, screaming from pain that wasn't there.

“I'd prefer to do this here.” Cora said, Lexi already removing the implant on her arm. “We'll have to cut ventilation off between the medbay and the rest of the ship, as a precaution.”

“I already have Gil working on it.”

Hopefully that meant Lexi had used the utmost discretion when explaining these particular adjustments to the ventilation system.

“I'll tell Scott,” Cora shivered.

Lexi nodded. “Of course. I'll be here when you're ready.”


	3. Chapter 3

“ _What?_ ”

The pathfinder stared wide-eyed at her, hands on hips as he stood in the middle of his quarters.

“Gil's sealing off the medbay ventilation as we speak – you should be fine.”

“No, no I most certainly will _not_ ,” Scott exclaimed. “My second will be in a cold medbay screaming her lungs out – that is not something I'm _fine_ with, Cora!”

The biotic cringed. “I really didn't need that imagery, but thank you, for the concern.”

His muscles twitched, apparently tempted to move forward to console her, but he remained still. “Can Lexi do anything? I've heard that painkillers don't-”

“No. Nothing is going to work – at least, nothing of what we have on the ship.”

“Well then I'm headed back down to Kadara. There's no way knowing exiled omegas went through this without-”

“Scott.”

He stopped talking, eyes solely on her. Cora clasped her hands together, warming them from the slight chill of his quarters. “I know you hate people telling you this, but there's nothing you can do. Not this time.”

The pathfinder swallowed, glanced down to the deck before back to her eyes. “If you're sure.”

“I'm sure.”

The lights, however, were less sure.

With an audible groan, the lights in the pathfinder's quarters fell as the power cut, the only illumination being the stars from his window.

“You've got to be kidding me,” Cora muttered.

Scott headed to the doors, brushing past her. “Sam?”

The AI chirped into the com in her ear. “ _It appears the ship has lost primary power._ ”

“What about secondary?” Ryder questioned.

“ _Secondary power is at a minimum._ ”

“What caused the power outage?”

“ _A spacial anomaly seems to had caused a shutdown of all primary systems. Engineer Brodie is working to rectify the problem.”_

“Sam, how long is that going to take?” Cora asked, stepping closer to Scott and the doors.

“ _Unclear. Until secondary power has been 100% restored, all non-essential systems have been powered down to conserve energy stores.”_

More ice spread through her chest as she looked up at the dark figure of the pathfinder. She couldn't see them, but she was fairly certain Scott's eyes were back on her. “Tell Gil to work fast.”

“ _He is working as quickly as possible.”_

Cora took a cautious step away from the doors, turning her back on Scott. “Lexi gave me ten hours.”

“Gil's a quick worker, he'll be done by then.”

* * *

Trying to be optimistic, Scott had taken to finding emergency lighting within his quarters, uncapping a bottle of angaran wine – without glasses, apparently having left them in the galley to be washed, they'd resorted to using mugs.

They were six hours in, two bottles down, and far from rescue, according to one Gil Brodie, whom had managed to get the coms back up, though only for a brief moment. That news had made them a bit tense, but once they'd started downing another mug, they relaxed a little more.

Having not been able to discuss his family before without fear of Scott running, she'd taken to doing so now, having finished more of the wine then Scott.

“You don't think it's inspiring?” She questioned. “I know they're your parents and all, but they broke _all_ the rules. How many times did they get hit by the Self-Determination Act-”

“Its a sham,” Scott interrupted quietly.

Cora blinked, leaning forward a little. "What do you mean, a sham?"

“No disrespect to omegas, but I don't think any of them knew what they were getting into when that thing was written.”

“What makes you say that?”

Scott put his mug down. “You act like you _want_ me to give you my family's life story.”

“Maybe I do.”

“Why?”

Cora crossed her arms. “Because your father is dead. Your sister is in stasis. We're about to tackle the Archon head-on. And we're in a new galaxy – one were we can _reform_ whatever garbage Alec thought the Self-Determination Act was.”

He looked down again, giving a small smile. “But you're an omega.”

“And?”

“Why would you want to reform something that helps you live life?”

She sighed, twirling her bootless foot in it's place on the couch. “Alec was a brilliant man. If he says something is wrong, he's usually right. And maybe I don't want my hand to be held every step of my life. He was the first person who didn't coddle me.”

Scott had finally kicked off his family history by explaining just how difficult Alec and Ellen had it – which mainly involved just how convoluted the Self-Determination Act was. There was red tape and holes everywhere, and despite being in love and genuinely caring for one another, at no point did either alpha nor omega deem it safe to oust themselves by claiming they were in a relationship, so much so that it had only been until they'd joined the Andromeda Initiative that Ellen had finally decided to take Alec's last name.

They had been married illegally, passing themselves off as what Scott referred to as a 'regular couple' (an eye-opening term for beta partners) when it became evident that the thing that had helped omegas rise up from the gutters of slavery and the likes was also legally keeping them apart from potential husbands and wives.

And then there had been the matter of Scott and Sara, and how _they_ came to be.

“She stopped taking her suppressants,” Scott shrugged. “Took a trip to some isolated and out of the way place, went on leave for a year, maybe two – I honestly don't remember how long he said they were away for, but it was long enough to conceive, birth, and claim we were adopted when they got back.”

“And nobody questioned that?”

“If they did, I wasn't told about it.”

Cora still couldn't believe her ears. She leaned back into the couch, shifting herself a little, and grinned. “Your mother went through a heat with an alpha.”

“Well yes,” He nodded. “That's why I exist.”

“They didn't talk about what that entailed at all? Alphas-”

“Are brutes. Yeah, I know.” Scott sighed. “Trust me, I've learned that the hard way. And no. Dad was . . . dad was tight-lipped about that. I got warned to stay away from omegas and Sara got warned to stay away from alphas. Ironic, really, but that's the way it was.”

Ellen finding work as an omega had been easy, regardless of lying about her relationship with Alec. That was compliments of the SDA. Alec, on the other hand, struggled, especially against the Alliance. The First Contact War had been Alec's moment, finally allowed on the battlefield in a proper fashion. And then the Scott grew up to face similar problems. It was only by virtue of his father being well-known in the Alliance, vouching for his son's temperament, did Scott find his place among others guarding the Arcturus Relay, his squad cautious around that of an alpha.

When he returned to his family, it had been because his father had been discharged for working on an Artificial Intelligence. And though it had practically destroyed his career, Scott had been relieved. When they lost Ellen, the three remaining Ryders had been crushed. Sara being trapped in stasis had been a blow for Scott in particular, being the only beta he felt comfortable with upon traveling to Andromeda.

And then Alec.

“I shouldn't be surprised,” Cora started. “That our human pathfinder takes after his father in more ways then one.”

His eyes were closed as he shook his head. “I know there are other alphas in the Initiative – there _has_ to be, but I'm the only alpha around that I know of. I'm walking on egg shells, Cora. I don't want to say that I've blown my cover, but the second every other human in Andromeda finds out that you're an omega, we're _both_ screwed.”

“They're not going to find out.” She said.

“What makes you so sure?”

She took a moment to consider. She could have brought up the fact that the Tempest was far away from the Nexus, and anything they did aboard the ship of a personal nature couldn't be held under scrutiny of the higher ups – just Scott himself – but she didn't. “Because 'omegas are helpless'. And I'm not helpless.”

“Yeah? And how long until you actually run out of suppressants? What then?”

“Then _I_ deal with that. Scott, you need to calm down,” Cora said, leaning forward in her seat. “Your father-”

“I'm not my father!” He exclaimed. “Dad had . . . _control_ , he had _experience_ – my family are . . . unconventional, but that doesn't mean he _taught_ me anything. The best I got was respecting others of all gender and species, no details about how my own damn biology worked. I wasn't supposed to be pathfinder. _You_ were.”

The flaw in that was that she, too, was in a gender that had been stigmatized. When someone looked at an alpha and an omega, the first thoughts were to do with sex. Nothing about their qualifications, nothing about themselves as people – just what they were doing behind closed doors. It's why Ellen Ryder's omega status had been so intriguing to her. Alec had made it so they looked and acted like betas, when in reality, Ellen had not only mated an alpha, _outside of a breeding centre_ , but had also kept her own children, raised them, loved them, and maintained a relationship with the alpha that sired them.

She'd opened her legs to an alpha.

The fact that she considered this absurd showed just how far humanity had fallen.

Cora herself had gotten off lucky. She was a powerful biotic, whom had joined the Alliance when they finally allowed omegas within their ranks, but then had been promptly shunned from humanity in general – not because she was an omega, but because her commanding officers feared her biotics. It was both an infuriating yet refreshing change of pace, working with asari whom were mono-gendered.

Alec hadn't told her he was an alpha, but he had that . . . earthy scent to him, one she'd only encountered once back in her days on Arcturus Station. She'd promptly inquired about his stasis with SAM.

She felt herself shuffling closer to Scott. “Nobody knows how this works.” Cora finally murmured. “But we're about to step into crisis mode. As soon as the Archon is dealt with, we'll have to wake up omegas, and the reality is, we don't have enough suppressants to support all of us. We knew that going in.”

“The idea was we'd find the resources to develop more, but . . . so far, little luck.” Scott rubbed at his cheek. “That falls to the pathfinding team. So I'm fucked on both levels, being both responsible for the omegas and responsible for not mating the omegas.”

“Like I said. We all knew what we were getting into – hell, Jien Garson made _sure_ we knew.”

Which is also why the amount of omegas was suspiciously low compared to that of betas and alphas – the omegas had just come out of a life of suppression. Why in the world would they jump into a new galaxy where, chances were, they'd be forced back into submission?

They'd already seen cases of omegas being raped on Kadara by wayward alphas – and now, knowing what she knew about Scott, his reaction to back away for a few hours to process what had happened in the Nexus medbay had made more sense. Betas typically breezed by all that, shrugging off the criminal act as a consequence of genders before rendering criminal judgment. Scott had been raised by an alpha who wanted better for his son, so likely the amount of outside alpha influences had been incredibly low. He was on the young side, too. Brutality just . . . wasn't in his nature.

“One step at a time.” Cora continued. “Let's deal with the Archon first. Worry about the omega liberties later.”

When those bright blue orbs looked back at her, she realized that he was actually much closer then he had been an hour ago, putting off an earthy, masculine scent she'd only just noticed. And damn, it was intoxicating. His nose was barely a hair's width from hers, and-

“ _Pathfinder._ ”

Suddenly given an excuse to snap back into reality and escape, Scott leapt up from the couch, leaving Cora to shiver somewhat from his sudden warm disappearing. “Sam, how close is Gil to being done with those doors?”

He was afraid. And thanks to the starlight outside the Tempest and the emergency lights scattered around the couch, it was hard not to miss the tent in his pants.

Even if Gil got the power back and the doors open, it'd be too late. The omega pheromones in the room were already having an affect on the human pathfinder.

“ _All attempts to restore power have had no effect. Suvi has determined that once we pass through the anomaly, power will return._ ”

“How long until we drift through?”

“ _Eight hours._ ”

Scott ran a hand through his hair, looking back towards Cora. He took a deep breath, addressing her. “I don't know what to do. By the time there's a way out, this-” He gestured between them. “Will be in full motion.”

Cora stood, ever so carefully, approaching the alpha male. “I trust you.”

Scott frowned. “You realize what you're saying is that you trust me to fuck you two ways to Sunday, right?” He swallowed again, laying out brutal truths as his eyes darkened. “That means all the bad stuff that comes with it. No escape, injury-”

“We face that every day anyway.”

“Cora, that means _knotting you_.”

And there it was. The problematic word of the day. Being knotted by an alpha was the lowest degradation anyone could consider, painful and shameful all in one. It was the biological function of an alpha during sex – else there'd be no humans.

Maybe it was the copious amount of wine she'd had for the first time in a long time, or maybe it was that intoxicating earthy scent Scott was giving off (probably in response to her), but compared to twelve hours of agony she'd be afforded otherwise, being knotted by her ridiculously attractive pathfinder, her _friend_ , no matter how painful, would only last for a few minutes at most. It seemed like a fair trade.

“I trust you,” Cora said again, taking his hands in her own. “But if _you_ aren't, then we need to drill these doors open _now_. Because I think this,” She motioned between them as he'd done so before. “Has already started.”

Although he heard her, Scott seemed lost in her eyes again, gold threading through his own bright blue as his hands returned her grip. His breathing had picked up considerably, arms tense as if he were ready to pull away at a moments notice, but she held him still.

Finally, after having stood there waiting for him to do something, _anything_ , she was rewarded with his lips attacking her own, his hands slipping from hers as he pulled at her waist, dragging her back towards the bed. She got the better of him, if only for a moment, sweeping the back of his foot so he'd fallen onto the bed first.

Above all, Cora was still dealing with an alpha. This wasn't like some beta she'd had for a one night stand many years ago, this was a young alpha whom was scared of himself, scared of hurting her. If she couldn't slow things down, she could at least take the lead.


	4. Chapter 4

“I'm sorry. I should have-”

She put a finger against his lips for a brief moment. “We're in this now. Stop saying that.”

Scott closed his eyes, taking a deeper breath. His hands trailed to her thighs, seemingly of their own volition, tugging her close and grounding her down onto the tent of his pants. Since hitting the bed, he'd downright refused to let go of her. She'd chalked it up to the on-coming heat, the young alpha's instincts kicking. “Okay, then. Here's a mild problem for you.”

“You've never done this before? Neither have I.”

He cringed, wriggling somewhat underneath her, settling himself. “No, I've never done this before, _period._ I haven't-” He choked on his words. “I haven't even gotten off in years.”

Such would be the case. Once he'd grown a knot, masturbating was off the cards forever – it resulted in a messy climax, painful for the alpha, and that one event would be a reminder for the rest of his life to never do so again, needing the pressure of an omega around the knot.

For this reason, omegas were slaves to the alphas for hundreds of years, liberation having been a development more recent than anyone would have liked, and only after many years of omegas fighting tooth and nail for it. They may have traveled for six hundred years, but such the current ideals remained. That included the omegas having essentially forgone relations with alphas entirely.

“None of us have gotten off in years.” Cora pointed out, trying to keep things relatively light.

“You know what I mean.”

She had to hide a smile by chewing on her lip. Here was a scary alpha, in all his innocence, between her legs and yet, entirely uncertain. “It'll be fine,” Cora finally managed to say. “I think my _experience_ can help with that.”

His eyes darkened, a quiet growl of disapproval emanating from his throat, but she'd opted to ignore it, filing his reaction away for later.

The biotic leaned forward, lips trailing down his neck to his collar. Her hands slid under the bottom of his shirt, thumbs hooking into the hem to pull it up. Just at the feel of someones hands on his abdomen, Scott gave a quiet mewling sound, fingers tightening on the back of her thighs.

“Sit up?” She breathed, leaning back to make him room – and he complied without hesitation, taking a brief moment to rest his head against her shoulder. His hands tightened again, painful enough that she was sure she'd have bruises tomorrow, but she didn't dare question it.

Cora didn't wait long, fingers tugging his shirt up his torso, pulling it over his head. She did the same with her own shirt, the garments ending up somewhere off the bed.

Suddenly, she was on her back, Scott holding her chest down with a powerful arm as his teeth trailed down her stomach toward her pants, nipping at her skin as he slipped the fingers of his other hand onto the zip of her pants. All of a sudden, she was vulnerable.

And all of a sudden, she was not quite as okay with Scott taking the lead as she'd hoped she would be, the realism of the situation settling in like a cold slap to the face.

“Ryder,” She wet her lips, her voice failing her. Knowing that this arm on her chest wouldn't be removed easily, she slipped her hands into his hair, gently tugging him back up to her eye level, a hint of vibration from her biotics helping to drive her point home. His eyes were completely golden, shocking in the pale emergency lighting.

And then the gold faded, Scott coming back to himself with a minuscule frown, before realizing exactly what had happened. “Oh god. I'm-”

“Don't say it.”

For the first time in the last hour, a smile played on his lips. He breathed through his nose, out through his mouth, calming himself down. “We have to talk this through.”

“Agreed,” Cora huffed, nodding. “I like top – I want top.”

Scott chuckled. “Sure. But . . . I don't know how long I can guarantee that for.” His lips sought out hers again, his tongue sliding over her own as he pulled her close and rolled them over again, a hand squeezing her ass as he did so.

“ _Pathfinder.”_

Son of a bitch.

Cora pulled up from Scott for a brief moment, pawing the com with SAM's voice out of her ear to toss it behind her as Scott, whom didn't have such luxury, growled. “What?” He demanded, the biotic above him taking to licking down his jaw, a hand trailing to his belt buckle...

“Tell her we're fine, Sam. Do me a favour and . . . turn off your logs.”

She looked back at him, that hand rubbing down the front of his pants. The large erection they were covering twitched, Scott's legs tensing somewhat as he lifted his head up to look at her, breathing elevated again.

“We've- hmmm,” He whimpered, head falling back to the bed as her finger trailed back over his pants to his abdomen. There was a mild concern in the back of her mind that if he was struggling to keep himself together _now_ , then who knew what was going to happen once the pants came _off_. “We've been stuck in here for nine hours.”

Cora hummed against his stomach.

“Lexi also says that-” Scott huffed. “She also says that our vitals are _great_. Progressing 'far better then usual'.”

Whatever that means.

The pathfinder looked back down at Cora, eyes threading with gold again. “I really need to get these clothes off of you.”

Her pants were the first to go, followed by his own, leaving them both in their underwear. With no power, the ship was getting increasingly colder, so the blankets from his bed had been haphazardly strewn over their legs to combat the occasional shiver on Cora's part.

When the bra came off, he could hardly contain himself, grabbing and licking at the flesh of her breasts. They hadn't been the first pair of Scott had seen, he'd manage to point out when the haze wore off for a moment, but they'd be the first he could _approach_. He was almost deliberately trying to mark her at that point, as if to stake a claim. And with the dose of hormones, her skin felt more sensitive to his hands, his lips, his _tongue_.

And then came the rest of their underwear.

It was no secret that alphas were large. But now, seeing Ryder in his full glory, it was . . . unnerving. She was barely able to wrap her hand around him. The betas she'd been with in the past were not nearly this big - for a moment, she awoke from the haze of hormones thanks to a fresh shot of fear.

Before Scott could comment on her sudden pause, however, she took him in her hands, stroking from the base of his cock to it's head, watching his eyes roll back and his toes curl. “ _Fuck_...”

This had been the first time in a long time that he'd been touched like this – the first time he'd been touched like this by someone _other_ than himself. She applied a little more pressure, stroking back up to the tip again, hearing him moan. God that noise was making her wet, a throbbing her her core more apparent now.

“I want you,” He said breathlessly, leaning up towards her. And damn it, she wanted him touching her again.

Cora leaned down, taking his mouth with hers, and one of his hands reached for her breasts again.

He rolled them over without warning, taking her thigh in his other hand as he ground his erection into her, taking her bottom lip tightly between his teeth. This time, her alpha wasn't waiting and would no longer submit to being below the omega. The underwear she'd left on had been effectively ripped off without a second thought.

She'd tried to get his attention again, fearing the worst in the back of her mind, by tugging his chin towards her with biotics, but it was pointless. He was too far into his _own_ heat to recognize the needs of a coherent omega.

Until he _was_ able to recognize the needs of a coherent omega. Though not by choice, Cora theorized. Ryder had been ready to press that cock into her, to the point where he was shaking with anticipation, but he'd stopped. With heavy breaths, he looked back to Cora, the gold draining from his eyes.

“I've never- I don't-”

He'd never had sex before – she'd already acknowledged this earlier. Even though his entire body weight had her pinned to the bed, the young alpha was looking to the (slightly) more experienced omega, whom he considered to be his _victim_ , as a guide. She would have laughed if she wasn't already concerned about his self-esteem.

Up to this point, it'd been somewhat of a power struggle to retain top position – and it was clear that if she pushed Scott any further, he might just snap at the prospect. So far, there'd been no injuries, and though he'd pinned her down twice, it hadn't been in such a violent manner as depicted in the vids. She'd like to keep it that way.

Cora took his dominant hand from his cock, pulling it back up to rest above her. “Here,” She took control of his fingers, bringing them down to her slick folds, circling them over the nub between her legs.

Even light pressure over her clit was driving her insane – and the alpha reveled in her reaction, his tongue on her neck as his fingers continued their ministrations when she pulled her own hand away. He was listening – an improvement upon one or two of her other flings, and he wasn't even trying – to how her breath peaked, to her little mewling when he increased the pressure.

“This can't be _all_ you want me to do,” The pathfinder chuckled quietly, pressing his hardness into her thigh.

Oh god she was _wet_ , ready for him. Cora nibbled at his jaw, hands reaching for him again to rub at the head of his cock. “Ngh...” He had to move his hips so that he was out of the reach of her hands. “I won't last long if you keep doing that.”

“Come on,” She lifted her hips, the heel of her foot trailing up the back of his legs.

He shook his head once, eyes locking with hers. Somehow, he'd retained his senses. “Last chance to back out.”

That was a lie. Not only could she go anywhere if she _did_ want to back out, but she highly doubted he'd actually let her. This seemed like a polite formality from the conscious Tempest commanding officer, more than it was a suggestion by an alpha in front of her.

“I want you.”

Cora pulled at his hips, her hand reaching for his cock again, lightly stroking as she lined him up. And he was ever so gentle, despite shaking hands, as he pushed in.

It felt tight, painful for Cora as she was stretched – and uncomfortable when she felt herself clamp down onto him, a rippling sensation traveling through her core. She'd had to lock a hand onto his hip to keep him slow, which he thankfully didn't interpret as her trying to back out. It was admittedly hard to keep calm, but the alpha on top of her had his head against her shoulder, lungs heaving. His hand was balling the bed's blankets into his fist.

With her free hand, Cora squeezed the back of his neck, her lips against his ear. “Talk to me.”

Ryder shook his head somewhat, the shaking subsiding as he stilled his movements. And _fuck_ if that solid length wasn't starting to feel good with every miniscule shift. “I don't think I can hold out long,” He said breathlessly.

She huffed a laugh. “We won't know until you try.”

“ _Cora._ ”

She dropped her head back to the bed, her eyes reaching his. Despite first time sex, despite responding to her pheromones and being in heat, this alpha was having moments of clarity. Part of her wondered if this would have been easier if he'd been entirely uncooperative, ignoring her wishes and just going for it.

Cora licked her lips. “Will Sam make you feel better?”

“. . . come again?”

“Sam – if he's . . . I don't know, if Sam's monitoring everything, will you feel better?” She suggested.

Scott readjusted himself on his elbows, looking down at her with a puzzled expression. “I feel like I wouldn't be okay with Lexi getting her hands on the logs he retains from this. How would I even- what am I even supposed to _tell_ him?”

“You'll have to think of something, because unless you're willing to pull out and let me-”

The alpha gave a hard and sudden thrust, teeth digging into her shoulder as her words were reduced to a moan. His voice had lowered with a gravelly tone. “You're not going anywhere.”

She didn't want to, the idea gone from her mind immediately in both a sense of self-preservation and downright _desire_. Her hands sought out as much of his skin as possible, fingers digging into his back when he set a slow, basic pace. The alpha wasn't skilled, and that she was writhing underneath him was by virtue of his cock simply being thick enough to drag over nerves that had her legs squeezing his hips.

Cora was in her own little world, really. After only a few minutes, she heard Scott calling for SAM – which was strange, given that he'd been less then thrilled about the idea in the first place – and then the alpha was readjusting their position slightly.

When his fingers sought out her clit, she couldn't take it anymore, clenching hard around him, her fingers digging into his back as wave upon wave of pleasure hit her.

The human pathfinder wasn't far behind. “ _Fuck..._ Cora- I have to-”

“ _Yes_.”

The conscious part of her wasn't entirely sure what she was actually agreeing _to_ , but it'd been made aware when Scott thrust into her once more, his hand hanging onto her leg as he gave a heavy moan.

An alpha's knot was always said to be a degrading experience, a _painful_ experience. She hadn't wanted to believe the idea that someone as soft and gentle as Scott Ryder could inflict easy pain through sex with no power to stop it.

That was until the pain started.

It felt _wrong_ at first, as if Scott hadn't done something correctly as his knot began to expand. When it started stretching her further up than he had before, and pressing against a part of her she was sure wasn't supposed to be pressed in such a manner, was when she'd started to panic. She wasn't screaming – not yet – but while she'd been through her fair share amounts of pain thanks to bullets and burns during her time as a commando and part of Scott's squad, this was something different entirely.

It was hard to keep whimpers and cries of pain at bay, her breathing kicking up a notch from before and her abdomen clenching as if she'd just been shot. Scott hadn't failed to notice, starting to panic himself.

“Cora, what's wrong – what's happening?”

She held her breath for a few seconds, trying to regain some composure – and failing miserably. “You're hurting- something's wrong, it-” She cried out again, fighting the instinct to pull away from the pain. “It hurts.”

“Sam, help us.”

Now she was glad she'd suggested putting SAM back in action, even if it meant a slight loss of dignity. They were humans – how the hell did the human race lose their sexual rhythm so badly that they were now relying on an AI to explain this to them?

Not that it mattered right now - she didn't have her earpiece in to hear SAM suggest solutions to this.

Scott, hand still holding her leg in place against him, rested his forehead against hers. “Cora, relax the muscles in your abdomen.”

She whimpered again, holding tears at bay. “You're joking, right?”

“Do you trust me?”

There was a ripple through her core around his cock that had her hissing through her teeth in pain. “Scott, you're hurting.” Pain that, at the start of all this, she'd been willing to take over twelve hours of agony. She wasn't reconsidering, but now she was faced with it, there was the knowledge that she hadn't spent any time preparing for it at all.

“Look at me. Cora,” He rubbed his nose against hers before pulling back a little again. “It's me. Do you trust me?”

She opened her eyes, to meet the brilliant blue staring back at her, laced with concern and panic of their own. She'd seen them before, every day she reported for duty, every day she needed someone to talk to for whatever reason, every time she was injured out in the field still hours away from a Tempest pickup.

She trusted Scott Ryder.

With deeper, shaky breaths, Cora allowed her muscles to loosen around the knot. She was breathing through her teeth, when Scott gave a quiet huff of relief – evidently she'd been 'gripping' him tight.

“This next bit's gonna suck,” He huffed, looking back down to where they were joined. “Ready?”

“Just do it.”

It was a short and sharp pull, the knot slipping back from where it'd been causing pain. For a brief moment, it hurt _more_ , the pressure taken off too quickly.

But where pressure had been taken off and caused pain in places, it'd been added onto _other_ parts, filling her in a way that felt marginally better to what it had earlier.

“Oh _fuck..._ ” She gasped, and what could only be described as wave after wave of pleasure hit her, the biotic's body tensing and shaking after the alpha.


	5. Chapter 5

There was a chill on her nose, eased by rubbing it into the pillow under her head. The rest of her was comfortable, pressed up against warmth and covered by a blanket. There was an ache low in her abdomen, but a happy tingle _elsewhere._ It had been the shifting of that warmth, and a slight but pleasant tug on her inside that pulled her out of her lull.

“Welcome back.”

A finger trailed along her arm to her shoulder, lips pressing against her forehead before she was able to glance up.

Right. Ryder. Heat.

She'd only opened her eyes slowly, waking from her quick nap comforted by an earthy scent radiating off him – coupled with the smell of sweat and sex, she also noted. She pressed her nose into his chest, curling up as much as she could manage. “It's freezing.”

“I know. Sam says Gil's tried everything to get main power back, but so far, no luck.”

“We're still in the anomaly?”

“Yeah,” He sighed. “How are you feeling?”

She shifted her leg a little, more comfortable hooked up and over his hip, unintentionally shifting his knot again, the tingling shooting down her legs again. But it hadn't just affected her – there'd been a sound akin to a moan emanate from Scott's throat, his hand running down from her arm to rest on her hip.

“I'm feeling good,” Cora finally said, but a deep breath only exasperated the painful ache above the knot. “But if we're required to keep doing this, I'm gonna need some pain killers.”

“Why, what's wrong?”

She gave a small sigh, letting one of her fingers trace along his lips. There was panic in his eyes, his breathing having kicked up at the mere mention of her potentially having been injured in some capacity. Cora spoke slowly, and calmly. “Our 'incident' might have caused some damage.”

It seemed like Scott was waging an internal battle, trying to remain calm, going so far as to close his eyes and breathe deeply through the cringe he gave. He was still letting her play with his lips, going so far as to lightly graze her thumb with his teeth, much to her amusement.

It was strange, being able to ease an alpha's panic. Her entire upbringing had centered around avoiding them, believing that they were dangerous, that they were purely dominant beings. Scott, for the most part, was letting her walk all over him. It was possible that it was because of inexperience, which was entirely true, but right now, it was more reasonable to believe that he truly wasn't capable of the behaviour omegas were constantly warned about.

“Is it bad?” Scott said after a few moments of silence, Cora's fingers tracing around his facial features.

“It's not unbearable. But I don't think I could go through a repeat and come out entirely unscathed.”

He cringed a little. “Should I have Sam take a look?”

Somehow letting the rather innocent AI analyze those particular parts of her body was not an appealing idea. “. . . let's not.”

“You'll tell me if it gets worse?”

“Would it matter?”

“Cora . . .”

She gave a soft smile. “Fine. For what it's worth, and for what good it'll do when we're only a couple of hours into this, I will tell you if I'm in pain. In the meantime,” Cora wriggled again, pushing on his side to get him on his back. She shivered a little, pulling the blanket over her as she straddled him. This position put an entirely new pressure on the knot, a shot of _wet_ slicking her folds as she rolled her hips a little. “Is it as good for you?”

Scott leaned up to meet her, eyelids heavy, nuzzling her chin. “You have no idea.”

It was a first for him, she remembered. Cora smiled again, capturing his lips for a deep kiss. And as the knot deflated, she pushed him back down to the bed, snuggling up to him as he gently pulled out, lifting the blankets up over them.

“Mind if we play twenty questions?” He asked, looking down to her head on his shoulder. When she hummed as an affirmative, he continued. “You said you have . . . _experience_ with this?”

She rubbed her nose into his chest again. “Not with an alpha, if that's what you mean.”

“No. I mean . . . I mean sex, in general.”

“Two betas and another omega.” She said, decidedly not beating around the bush. His hand gripped her upper arm tighter, but, having attributed it to an instinctual need to keep his omega close, she just pulled herself further onto his chest. “It was only stress relief – nothing substantial. I have no intimate ties back in the Milky Way. Why do you ask?”

He struggled for words. “. . . curiosity?”

The omega giggled into his chest, a finger circling one of his nipples. “Do I get to participate in this line of questioning?”

“Not sure what I could answer, but go ahead.”

“I had sex in my early days to relieve stress and arousal. You worked the Arcturus relay for a fair while, though. You never had _one_ encounter?”

Scott pursed his lips for a few seconds, giving a light shrug. “I was told that to keep to myself. My knot came in . . .” He sighed, frowning a little as he thought. “My knot came in about a year before I enlisted, I think? So only five conscious years . . . it's not terrible.”

“Five years without being able to get off is _horrible_.”

He shrugged. “Can't have sex with betas, and omegas in service are rare. Not that any would _want_ to.”

She frowned, looking up at him again. “Were you matched with anyone?”

“What, as in the breeding program?”

“Yeah.”

“No. Dad was hell-bent on making sure Sara and I avoided that thing.”

Sara, however, would have avoided the program entirely just by virtue of her being a beta. But Cora's frown deepened. “Did he at least give you the choice?”

“No,” He admitted. “But I like to think he was giving me a different choice to make. Besides, the entire human pathfinding team got out of the breeding program. Including, if I recall correctly, _you_.”

Cora gave a slight grin. Alec had asked her whether she was interested – which was why she was confused as to the reason he didn't afford his own son the same decision. That he'd refused Scott access was strange.

Or maybe Alec just didn't agree with the program. That would make sense, given everything Scott had told her thus far.

Scott glanced back down to her eyes, gesturing between the two of them. “You're a special case, though. All this is on you.” Cora merely rolled her eyes. But he tapped on her hip, pushing up on his elbows. “Hop off? I'll go get that pain killer for you.”

She groaned in annoyance, but complied. He slid out of the blankets, crossing his quarters stark naked to retrieve a few items from his desk. The alpha shivered slightly from the cold, but otherwise continued forward.

What was strange was how she'd started to feel a little uneasy by the separation. Despite him being in her view, despite knowing he couldn't leave even if he'd wanted to, some part of her desperately wanted to go to him, or for him to come back quicker than he was right now.

When he returned and seated himself on the bed, bringing what looked like a bottle of water, some energy bars, and a small strip of pills, Cora crawled up behind him, running her hands over his chest as her head rested on his shoulder. As the alpha leaned backwards into her touch, she felt her heart rate go down, the anxiety she'd been feeling quelled.

“You alright?” Scott asked, taking one of her hands to squeeze it in his own. In response, she simply ran her lips up to his ear, pressing a kiss just below his lobe as her free hand took the strip.

She popped just the one out of its casing, keenly aware that the ache was already beginning to subside without it's help. Next, she took the water he'd put down next to them, taking a mouthful, and also stole an energy bar – much to his amusement – unwrapping it and shoving it into her mouth rather unceremoniously.

As she shivered against the cold air, Scott nudged her back down onto the mattress, pulling up the blankets and settling himself between her legs again. The biotic pressed her hands against his chest, keeping him up off her just a little, much to his minor annoyance. His hips ground into hers, the alpha's lips back at her neck, pressing behind her ear. If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought he was trying to lick the back of her neck. Evidently, the next bout of the heat was starting up again.

“Scott.”

“Hmm?” Scott managed, entertaining himself by lightly nipping at her shoulder.

Her foot kicked against his leg. “I want top.”

The pathfinder pulled back to look at her, almost as if she'd insulted him somehow – but she'd taken the opportunity to employ a close combat technique, using her biotics and muscles in those powerful legs and successfully twisting them so to put her above him, pressing up against his chest to sit up, grinding against his cock.

“ _I said_ , I want top.”

Scott's eyes began to thread gold through his typically blue orbs, a grin spreading across his face. “You make a lot of demands.”

A part of her considered herself lucky that he was light-hearted, easily compliant to her will. He pulled his hand to her core, fingers sliding to her folds. He hadn't known how to properly do this before – better to teach him now than allow him to fumble through it later. So with her hand above his as a guide, she placed his fingers above the hood of her clit. When they were in their optimum position, she circled them at a moderate pace. And it wasn't long before he was driving her crazy all on his own.

In hindsight, this was a weird thing to be proud of.

Only twice did he have a misstep – the first being that she was _too_ wet, which was a situation easily remedied. The other was when he'd been distracted by the random biotic pulse that had flushed over her.

“Your eyes . . .”

Scott was looking directly at her, his fingers stilling somewhat – much to her chagrin – as if expecting Cora to respond. She didn't – or at least, not in the way he was expecting. Her thumbs trailed up to the deflated knot at the head of his cock, fingers gently teasing around it's slit. His mouth opened, panting when she added biotics into the mix, his hips jerking. “Cora . . .”

His hand fell away from her, leaning up to capture her lips. And before she knew it, his hands latched onto her thighs and he was pulling her up, to inch her down onto his length.

This was faster than before, more urgent. Not to mention how much he'd managed to learn or deduce since last go around. He didn't seem worried about her this time – but she had to wonder just how much of his anxiety had been caused by her own. Before, he'd been slow, cautious, constantly checking in with her. Now it was like they were in sync.

Now he had _confidence_ , deliberately controlling their pace – not too fast for her, not too slow for him. The best part was he didn't need access to her clit now. He was grazing against that glorious spot, making her toes curl and her lungs heave. There was a rippling sensation, followed by a twinge of pain, but it felt irrelevant . Her fingers threaded into his hair, when finally – and for the first time in a _long_ time – she orgasmed without fingers against her clit, moaning into his neck

He kept up the pace, slowing only for a moment to recapture her lips, his tongue snaking into her mouth. “Fuck,” Scott breathed when he pulled back, his fingers tightening in their place on her thighs to the point where he was now digging into her muscles, of which already ached from when he did the same the last time they'd tried this. But she's worry about that after.

Cora whimpered. God, he was just . . . he was just _everything_ . The way his lips were parted through his heavy breaths, his eyes focused purely on her. The way his cock hit her _just there, just right_. “I'm gonna come again.”

“ _Yes_ ,”

But it was just out of reach, building up too slowly. Her hands sought out his, still holding her tight in a death-grip, prying them off and keeping his fingers locked in with hers. Cora took control of the pace, rocking faster on him, desperate for release.

Until _finally_ , she fell over the edge, clamping around him again

Scott shuddered, breathing hard through his nose as he tried to pull his hands away to get another hold of her legs but failed, Cora holding his hands too tight. “ _Cora_ -”

“Whatever you're gonna say, _don't_.”

His response was somewhat of an amused huff, unable to keep eye contact with her. “Before, when I knotted you-”

“ _Scott_ -”

“Sam said the reason you were in pain was because my knot expanded too far past your pocket.”

“My _what_?”

The pathfinder gave an irritated groan. “Forget it - I'll tell you later,” He growled, and forcefully flipped them so he was back above her.

His panting increased, before finally he came undone, Cora feeling that warm shot of heat as he began to expand. He'd managed to pull back just a little, a spark feeling shooting down her legs. And the pressure within her increased . . .

His head fell to rest on her shoulder, his fingers still entwined with hers. She hadn't been entirely _present_ for her last knotting experience, remembering only the last two minutes, but she felt _safe_ in his arms. Being here felt satisfying in a way she'd never achieved with her other bed mates.

One thing was certain, though, and it was that Scott was just a tad heavier than he looked. It wasn't that she couldn't hold him here, but his body laying atop hers was starting to get uncomfortable.

“We need to talk about you switching positions at the last minute.”

The alpha didn't look up at her as he laughed into her shoulder.


End file.
